Students can more easily learn the skills of self-efficacy in the context of strong personal aspirations.

Many frameworks that outline the skills necessary for success in the 21st century emphasize the importance of self-efficacy.1
Self-efficacy is the belief that one has control over one's own life; it's accompanied by a set of skills that include the ability to

Identify long- and short-term aspirations that are personally meaningful and that contribute to one's sense of well-being.

Set concrete long- and short-term goals relative to one's aspirations.

Identify, monitor, and change personal beliefs and habits that are impediments to successfully completing one's goals.

Intuitively, these seem like powerful skills to teach, and many classroom teachers try to foster them at every turn. However, they're difficult to teach in the artificial, academic context that's so often embedded in traditional subject areas.

Rather, students can more easily learn these skills in the context of strong personal aspirations. I've found that teachers can use a certain type of classroom project—what I refer to as a
personal project—to enhance self-efficacy skills.2

Self-Efficacy—In Seven Phases

Personal projects entail seven phases, each of which begins with a question that fosters self-efficacy.

Phase 1: What do I want to accomplish?

In phase one, students identify personal aspirations of interest. Typically, they don't share these with other students; rather, they record them in a journal that's accessible to the teacher only. To help students articulate their aspirations, a teacher might ask, "What would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail?" One female high school student might respond, "I want to go to the U.S. Air Force Academy and eventually fly military jets." A powerful addition to student projects is for the teacher to identify an aspiration and follow the same phases as the students.

Phase 2: Who else has accomplished the same goal, and who will support me?

During the second phase, students look for role models and mentors. The student who wants to fly jets might find her role model in Nicole Malachowski, who not only graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and flew F-15s in combat over Kosovo, but also was the first female to be selected to the Air Force's elite flying team, the Thunderbirds. The student might approach her own parents to be her mentors, just as Nicole Malachowski's parents were mentors for their daughter.

Phase 3: What skills and resources will I need to accomplish my goal?

Whereas phase one encourages students to "dream big" without any limitations, phase three asks them to confront the realities of their aspirations. During this phase, the young female student might find that she has to maintain a high grade-point average, procure a letter of recommendation from a U.S. senator or representative, and be in superb physical condition to be accepted into the Air Force academy.

Phase 4: What will I have to change about myself to achieve my goal?

This phase directly addresses the fourth self-efficacy skill: the ability to identify personal beliefs and habits that get in the way of accomplishing one's goals. It's probably the most confrontational of all the phases. Here, the student might realize that she gets discouraged easily when positive feedback begins to wane. As a result, she might resolve to work against this tendency.

Phase 5: What is my plan for achieving my goal, and how hard will it be?

This phase directly addresses the second self-efficacy skill: the ability to set concrete long- and short-term goals. Students develop written plans that detail the steps they will take to accomplish their goals. With guidance from the teacher, the student who wants to fly jets might develop a detailed two-year plan that, when executed, would most likely result in a higher grade point average and enhanced physical conditioning.

Phase 6: What small steps can I take right now?

This phase partially addresses the third self-efficacy skill: the ability to monitor one's progress. Teachers might ask students to identify something they can accomplish within the next month or two that would be a small step toward their ultimate goal. Because Air Force cadets must regularly run long distances, the student might set the goal of being able to run the mile in less than eight minutes by the end of two months. An effective addition to this phase is for the teacher to ask students to write their small step on a piece of paper and put it in a self-addressed envelope. The teacher then mails these envelopes to students after two months.

Phase 7: How have I been doing, and what have I learned about myself?

In the last phase, students evaluate their overall progress and draw conclusions regarding what they have learned about themselves. The student who wants to fly jets might conclude that she's right on schedule, proud of herself because she's willing to dream big, and ready to celebrate her current progress. This phase is also a time when students can make adjustments in their efforts or time lines. Our student might find that she really isn't as committed to flying as she thought she was but that she's very committed to a career in the military. Such changes in direction are a natural consequence of exercising self-efficacy and are also to be celebrated.

Personal Projects in the Classroom

One nice feature about personal projects is that the teacher doesn't have to attend to each phase every day. Rather, he or she might devote one class period to the first phase and then wait a few days to address the second. After that, the teacher could space each of the remaining phases one or two weeks apart.

Personal projects are most easily embedded in skill-based courses, such as those that teach study skills. Teachers might also embed them in classes that focus on understanding human psychology or in traditional subject-matter classes, in which short periods are set aside to address the seven phases.